Compromising Positons
by ROSSELLA1
Summary: What Compromising Postions could have been like if a certain unit chief had intervened.


Compromising Positions

BY ROSSELLA1

NOTE: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters. Any quotes will be in italics. Could be viewed as romance or just a friend being protective.

Hotch watched from across the room as Emily talked to James Thomas. She was clearly nervous and she wasn't the only one. Of course all of them had to do things like this once in a while, but that didn't make him any less comfortable with it when it happened; especially when it was one of the female members of the team. Maybe it was his male ego or maybe something else, he didn't know, but he'd always felt a need to be extra protective of them, especially of Prentiss. He saw James give an annoyed glance down at Emily, as she touched his arm, a flash of unease in her eyes and in that moment he made his decision.

"Keep an eye on this." He whispered, taking his vest off, and handing it to Morgan.

"Hotch!" The other man hissed, "What are you doing?"

"Helping out." He made his way across the room, through the crowd.

"_So where's Bryan?"_ He heard James ask and he quickly moved in from behind.

"Right here." Hotch interrupted, wrapping his arms around Prentiss. "Hey, Honey." He said, planting a kiss on top of her head. She tensed in his arms and then relaxed a bit.

"Hi, Bryan!" He could hear the relief in her voice. "You remember James, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" He gave the man a suggestive wink. "You're Mary Ann's husband, right?

He saw the man glance down at Aaron's wedding ring (he'd never been able to take it off since Haley had died) and he relaxed a bit but still looked slightly suspicious. "You two have gotten married since then?"

Prentiss opened her mouth to agree but Hotch interrupted with a small laugh. "Um, actually we've been married for fifteen years!" Thomas was interested in married alpha males, not boyfriends.

"Oh," The man let out a small chuckle. "Sorry, guess I forgot."

"It's alright. It's been a while." Hotch replied.

"Well," James said, turning to face them. "It's certainly good to see the two of you again. Especially you, Emily." He reached out and brushed a hair out of her face and Hotch had to restrain himself from taking the man down there and now.

'Relax.' He reminded himself. 'This is good. It'll keep his attention away from Morgan and the others long enough to give them the time they need to move in.' Out loud he said, "Yeah, good to see you too." He put an arm around Emily and pulled her closer to him, making the man give them even more of his attention. He saw Morgan start across the room. 'Just keep it up a little longer,' He thought.

James smirked, apparently at Hotch's "jealousy" and leaned in closer to Emily, "You know we could get out of here. Just the two of us."

Hotch saw the conflict in her eyes. On one hand the guy was a serial killer and no way could she agree to leave with him, but if she acted reluctant then he might sense that something was off. He decided to save her the trouble of answering. "My wife wants to stay here with me." Coming from him this would only be interpreted as an alpha male protecting his territory.

James turned a leering gaze on him. "I think the lady can speak to herself." He grabbed Emily's arm. "Come on, Emily." She started to pull away but he kept his grip and turned to drag her away only to be met with a gun in his face.

"Let her go, asshole!" Morgan snapped, and James Thomas did bewilderedly. Morgan proceeded to read him his rights and arrest him.

Emily turned to Hotch. "Thanks." She breathed. "I was worried there for a moment; he wasn't responding." She hesitated and then timidly gave him a peck on the cheek, in gratitude. With a small smile, she turned and out of the club to help Morgan get Thomas in the car.

Behind her, Hotch gave a rare grin. "No problem at all." He replied, and followed her out.

End Note: Also, sort of random but was I the only one thinking of what Foyet did to Hotch when they were talking about how an alpha male would kill another alpha male's mate to establish dominance?


End file.
